The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 33

WW pi 9 p-yw Tuesday, May 7, 1974 Mm Inquirer SPORTS Dial Score LO 3-2842 For Late Results Section ml fr i-. t- THE FINALS 4 Impe Van Plans Some 'Distraction' for Esposito By CHUCK NEWMAN ngutrer S(o Writer BOSTON The exuberance of, his youthful teammates is clearly present, but there can be no doubt that Edward Charles Van Impe, who speaks with the flair of an English lord and plays hockey like the Marquis de Sade, is carrying a 33-year-old body into the Stanley Cup finals. The veteran Flyers' defenseman slumped wearily at his dressing stall Monday after a morning workout, waiting to board the plane to Boston and tonight's (7:35, Channel 29, WPEN) opening game of the finals against the Bruins. i "I've waited for this for 14 years," the Flyers' steadying influence behind the blue line explained. "Some people say that we have done so well already that this series is anticlimactic.

I don't feel that way. All I hope now that out best is good enough." These are good times for Ed Van Impe, now not only a member of a successful hockey team but a successful operator of a hockey rink in Brook-haven. And, despite the wear of the relinquishing the extra duties made him a better player. But Van Impe doesn't agree. "It's a job that carries honor," he said.

"But. the coach made the decision, and he couldn't have picked a better man than Bobby." Van Impe's total concentration is now on Boston. And he'll be critical in defensing of the Bruins' Phil Esposito when the powerful center plants himself in his accustomed position in front of the Flyers' net. The Flyer veteran has no magic solution to Esposito, Orr and company but has faced them often enough to know Jiat might work. "You try to keep him (Esposito) distracted when he sets up," said Van Impe, who has been-kraown to distract and disturb some'people with his stick.

"He's so big and strong that it's tough" to dislodge him. So you try to make him aware of you." Orr is a different problem. "What do I do when he's making a rush?" Van Impe answered an obvious question. say a prayer. But after 4hat I try to put him off to an angle so you can give your goaltender a chance." (See FLYERS on 2-D) Bruins plan rough welcome for Gary Dornhoefer; Chuck Newman predicts the Cup winner Page 2-D season, he can give thanks for some things.

"I fell pretty' good because I haven't been hurt this year," the graying defenseman said. "The weariness is natural. But it disappears when you're winning." Ed Van Impe is a key reason the Flyers are the first expansion team with an' honest shot at capturing National Hockey League title. Not only has he operated with efficiency on the. league's top defensive unit, but he has' played a big role in the development 7 of young Jim Watson as a Flyers' star.

"You can't, believe how much plea- sure it's been watching him (Jim Watson) develop," Van Impe said. "And what is amazing is that he is deceptively reliable defensively. And he's going to get a lot better." Ed Van Impe surrendered his duties as team captain last year to Bobby Clarke, and some people think TywSSaUwgaSB United Press Interiwtional THE RANGERS' Bobby Rousseau (22) finds Ed Van Impe a formidable checker during Sunday's finale. The Bruins' Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito will be expecting the sam treatment tonight. THE STANLEY CUP the object their affection TTT" From Win 4th rails raares FRANK DOLSON Rippelmeyer and to all the Phillies.

And it's a puzzle that must be solved if the club is to have a mound stopper. Most of all it's a puzzle to Carlton himself. The 27-game winner of 1972 is obviously distressed with his failures. Informed that Ozark said he was throwing well, Steve said, "Yes, I was," and (See PHILLIES on 4-D) enough of a lead' to survive a ninth-inning uprising that died after two runs scored. Win or lose, however, any hopes the Philles have of being genuine contenders this season must include a return to winning form by the left-handed Carlton.

His inconsistency is a puzzle to manager Danny Ozark, to pitching coach Ray history a mere 4,149 braved a rain-delaying shower to watch another disappointing performance by the Phillies' lefthanded ace. Still, the game might have been salvaged with air-tight relief pitching, but rookie Dave Wallace was touched for two runs one unearned in the eighth inning, and that gave the Padres just Kendall's two-run homer off loser Steve Carlton and a run-scoring double off reliever Dave Wallace were the big blows as the Padres beat the Phillies, 7-6, Monday night and prevented them from moving into a tie for first place in the National League's Eastern Division. The smallest Phillies' crowd in Veterans Stadium hurlers for seven hits in 15 times at bat. No wonder the Padres have beaten the Phillies four straight games this season. The Padres show, who started out this campaign by losing their first six games and 10 of thier first 13, have now won 10: of their last 13 and they're certainly giving the Phillies more than they can handle.

By ALLEN LEWIS inquirer Staf Writer The way Fred Kendall roughed up the Phillies' pitchers, you'd think he was Dave Schultz and they were the New York Rangers. The 25-year-old catcher of the San Diego Padres, who came into this season with a .243 lifetime batting average, lias slashed away at Dodgers Mystified By Green Phantom The old friends met Friday afternoon, before the first game of the Phillies-Dodgers series at the Vet. Tommy La-sorda, the Dodger third base coach, and Tommy Hutton, the Phillies somet mes-first baseman, had known each other for a long time. And admired each other "He signed me," Hutton said. "A friend of mine was workingat the stadium (in Los Angeles) parking cars.

He told Lasorda, 'I've got a buddy at South Pasadena High School who's a good ball player. Why don't you go over and see Lasorda was scouting for the Dodgers then, so he went and he liked what he saw. Hutton wound up playing for the ex-pitcher in the Dodger farm system. Three years they spent together there. Three happy years.

wmmmmwjmimmmmmmmmmmmmmmwmmmm whim thw ii "mn 1 1 in Miff" Jl TOMMY HUTTON Philadelphia Inquirer GERARD C. BENENE Billie Jean King runs gamut of emotion in coaching ebut. Freedoms' mentor urges teammate on (left), bemoans an error (center) and eyes Spectrum scoreboard Boos, Giveaways, Fancy Dress It's Still Tennis don't know Forest Hills from Forest Lawn. "He always made it fun, Hutton said. "Right now, that's important for me.

I'm not playing. I've got to do things to have fun When you're not playing you've got to keep your- self mentally alert." Hutton needed a boost last weekend. He was back in the Phillies' dugout watching Willie Montanez playing first base. Maybe Tommy didn't show it; maybe that easy-going disposition, that quick smile hid it, but sitting there was tough. The sight of Tommy Lasorda was the lift he needed.

They'd had so many laughs together, done, so much needling "He told me (Friday), 'You guys are going to get your lunch three days in a Hutton said, grinning. That night, just before the game, Lasorda found a note in his locker. "I hope you didn't eat lunch today," it said, "because you're going to get it tonight." The Dodger coach looked at the signature and broke out laughing. "The Green Phantom." God, did that bring back me-mori3. The Furniture Is Missing "Hutton and (Jim) Lefebvre, they were always playing jokes," Lasorda said, thinking back to those days, at Vero Beach, when they were all working for the Dodgers.

"One time I come in my room and all the furniture was missing. Nothing but a green ball in the middle of the floor With a note attached. "See the left pocket of Claude Os-teen's jacket," the Green Phantom advised. Lasorda dashed off, found the jacket and another note. Eventually, he even found his furniture.

A barrel of laughs, that Tommy Hutton. "Another time I come in the room and newspapers are niled ud to within a foot of the ceiling," Lasorda recalled. BILL LYON There are 16 teams in WTT and each franchise represents an investment ranging from $450,000 to $800,000, so there was more thaj a passing curiosity among the 1.0,611 who showed up to see the WTT inaugural between the Philadelphia Freedoms and the Pittsburgh Triangles. (Freedoms' owner Dick Butera says the team needs to averag 5,500 to break even.) The opening night was almost half an hour late starting. The delay was attributed to a rain storm, which may have been the first time an indoor sport was hung up by the weather outside.

The Freedoms, unlike the Flyers, did not use Kate Smith but conservatively stuck with the National Anthem, and mid-(See LYON 2-D) A rather racy headline in the program suggested that mixed doubles is "one of America's favorite intersexual games." Well, mixed World Team Tennis debuted in the Spectrum Monday night, and it is a safe bet that it will never be No. 1 on the intersexual games hit parade. Of course the competition has been around a while. Anyway, WTT has pulled all the stops in an effort to jazz up a sport that, in the words of Billie Jean King, "for too long has been a rich, white country club game." The sport itself is restricted by its very nature, and violence lovers will find none of pro football's forearm shivers nor hockey's Pier 6 brawls. Tennis just isn't a "physical" sport in the sense of Roller Games, say, or even lacrosse.

But World Team Tennis is making a valiant effort to soup up the sport, modernize and streamline it, and hopefully package it attractively enough to appeal to all us dummies who Freedoms Beat Triangles In First-Ever WTT Match "Our players thought it was great," said Billie Jean King, who believes deportment will never be an attraction to the multitudes the promoters of the new venture hope to attract. "Our players really loved it. They said, 'The people just loved it'." Billie, Jean, the Freedoms player-coach, said at a post-match press conference And then there was the super practical joke of them all. Lasorda was safely in his room early one morning, sleeping peacefully. There was a knock on the door.

A loud knock. An authoritative knock. Tommy checked the time. Seven o'clock. Who the Hell It was Walter O'Malley, the owner of the ball club.

And he seemed disturbed. "You have the wheels of my golf cart," O'Malley said to his non-plussed employe. It was more of a declaration of fact than a question. Lasorda was practically speechless a rather unusual state for the Norristown, native. What in the world gave O'Malley an idea like thai? The Green Phantom, of course.

He had jacked up the boss' golf cart, removed the wheels and left instructions for their recovery. All O'Malley had to do was look under Tommy Lasorda's bed And, by God, there they were. A great kidder that Phantom. "A lot of guys were in on it," Hutton said, ticking off some of the names. Wes Parker Don Sutton And, of course, Tommy Hutton.

"When we were going to do something one would always take him to dinner so we'd know he was gone More Than One Ghost It took Lasorda a while to catch on. "He thought the Green Phantom was one guy," Hutton said, "but it was more than one guy It started one day when I put a bottle of Scope (mouthwash) in his locker with a note: 'Use it. The Green Then we dyed all his baseball equipment green Just one big laugh after another." One thing I learned from Lasorda," Hutton said. "You can have fun in this game Especially when you're winning. (See DOLSON on 4-D) Sports On the Air attended by well over 100 persons.

Ken Rosewall, the Pittsburgh player-coach, said in essence, the noise the promoters want is a fact and players just will have to learn to live with it. "It's one of the conditions we'll have to get used to. It might get worse as the season goes on," Rosewall said. He meant there may be more catcalls than the paid officials got from the crowd on some calls, and there may be greater arguments than the one he got involved with the umpire in the final mixed when a double fault was called against Pittsburgh. 5- The call went against Peggy Michaels of the Triangles, whenJhe umpire overruled' a linesman, giving Michaels "a double fault, in the game that clinched the match for Phila- delphia.

Michaels' partner, (See FREEDOMS on 2-D) 1 By JOHN DELL Inquirer Stall Writer In the unkindly eyes of traditionalists it may have resembled tennis the way donkey baseball resembles baseball. World Team Tennis made its somewhat boisterous world debut Monday night at the Spectrum, where the Fre-doms, Philadelphia'spntry in the new 16-team league, defeated the Pittsburgh Triangles, 31-25. The score was arrived at by-adding up all points in all games that were unreeled before a crowd of 10,611 (7,324 paid), which included members that acted in a manner that would have gotten them drummed off the hallowed grounds of the Merion Cricket Club. The people yelled and shouted while serves and volleys were in progress and generally forgot to behave as if they were in church. III mm 1 -v.

A TELEVISION PP.0 HOCKEY 7:30 P. M. Flyers vs. Boston Bruins, Ch. 2.

PRO BASKETBALL :30 P. M. Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics. Ch.

10. PRO TENNIS 10:30 P. M. Phila. Freedoms vs.

Pittsburgh Triangles (tape), Ch. 29. RADIO COLLEGE BASEBALL 2:50 P. M. Temple vs.

Pittsburgh, FM. BASEBALL 7:30 P. M. Phillies vs. San Diego Padres, WCAU-1210.

PRO HOCKEY 7:30 P. M. Flyer vs. Boston Bruins, WPEN-9SO. Philadelphia Inquirer GERARD BENENE Brian Fairlie of the Freedoms reaches to return shot by Ken Rosewall i lildjli.